We had lost Taty Castellanos and Oriol Romeu. We were depressed. But in Savinho’s first training session I told Quique [Cárcel, sports director] that we were going to finish in the top eight.” He was left speechless. Very short. Because Míchel Sánchez has become a dream come true at the helm of a Girona team that has written a brilliant, peculiar, to a certain extent romantic and, above all, commendable story.
First they surpassed their points record in the First Division, then they secured salvation, later they guaranteed their presence in Europe, a milestone they had never achieved, and on Saturday they certified their presence in the Champions League. From party to party, from Olympic return to Montilivi to Olympic return, from special t-shirt to special t-shirt. And what remains in this wave of positivity from Girona.
“My dream now is to win a title with Girona,” says Míchel. What 686 days ago, when Girona was still in the Second Division, would have seemed like a delirious phrase is today a complicated but feasible wish. As if to tell you that it is impossible for the current Girona. A Girona that still has milestones to achieve in this League.
For example, being the highest scoring team in the championship (right now they are one goal behind Madrid). Or work so that the Pichichi goes to the Ukrainian Dovbyk, who has two goals ahead of Bellingham. Since 2008, when the award was won by the ineffable Dani Güiza (Mallorca), no footballer from a team other than Barça, Madrid or Atlético has been a top scorer.
Although what gives more merit if possible to Girona’s season is its score. They have 74 points and four games ahead to surpass the 77 of Valencia in 2004 and 2015, of Villarreal in 2008 and of Sevilla in 2021. If they achieve it, they will be the team with the most points added since the victory is worth three , if the triumvirate formed by Madrid, Barça and Atlético is excepted.
Girona is already the Spanish team that has needed the fewest seasons in the First Division, four, to enter the Champions League. A competition in which Míchel longs to face Liverpool, Bayern, Borussia Dortmund or Inter. There it is nothing. He trusts the coach and the entire club to do it in Montilivi, although UEFA does not accept the extra stands in the stadium. This will be a hot potato for Girona in the coming months. If they play in their stadium, it will have to be with a reduced capacity. If you want to do it in an approved venue where more spectators enter, you will have to emigrate for the Champions League matches. This is an extreme that Girona does not rule out, although logically it would not be ideal. “We want to hear the Champions League anthem at home, and the club is doing everything possible to make that happen,” Míchel acknowledged yesterday on RAC1.
But that will be in the next season. For this one they still have another possible goal pending, that of being second ahead of Barça and earning their participation in the Spanish Super Cup.
